Helsinki Design Lab's roots stretch back to 1968. In 2008 Sitra resurrected the initiative and operated it for five years. We are now closing this chapter of the project's life, and in doing so creating a living archive. Our intention is to open up the work of HDL as a useful platform for others who carry forward the mission of institutional redesign.

The full website will remain in place until at least the beginning of 2015. You are free to copy, remix, and extend the content here using a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike license. Below we've curated a shortlist of useful posts from this site's history.

Ahhh, That felt nice—that month-long break from weeknotes we just took. Hope you enjoyed the pictures and videos that replaced these weeknotes during the month of September. After the big event we needed the break, but now we're back at it refreshed and invigorated.

At the moment our attention is split between a couple bits of media to be produced in the near term and some decisions to be made about our long term activities. For a while it seemed as though the fall would be a quiet season, but after sitting down with Justin and Marco to review the calendar the myth of respite is once again shattered.

We've been on the horn this week with Tel Aviv inquiring about upcoming case study research, Zurich to talk about an exciting opportunity, and DC to check in on media-related issues.

This is a week of comings and goings. I'm back from my post-event holiday and Marco is leaving for some time with his family. Meanwhile, we have a more significant departure: Minna is leaving Sitra to begin a PhD program at the University of Helsinki. Thanks for everything, Minna, and good luck on your next adventure!

In celebration of the fact that we're actually posting this weeknote on Friday, let's close it with links to two bits of beauty. If you haven't seen them already, Steven Johnson's introduction of his upcoming book is a great four minute scribble of ideas about hunches, connectivity, where ideas come from. And there's not really a way to frame the five-minute video entitled Making Future Magic other than to say that if someone somewhere is giving us a glimpse into the future, it's most definitely the fine people at BERG.

FREE BOOK about the stewardship and craft of institutional change, illustrated through the stories of six meaningful projects.

What is HDL?

Helsinki Design Lab uses strategic design to uncover the "architecture" of large-scale challenges and develop more holistic, complete solutions for improvement. We strive to advance knowledge, capability, and achievement in this discipline, regardless of geography or nationality. HDL most recently operated 2009-2013 and is now closed.